In the spring of 1998 I ordered the Gingery series of books
on how to build a metalworking shop from scratch. I started with a 5
gallon steel bucket lined with firebrick mortar for a foundry. Fine sand
from the bottom of a Virginia trout stream mixed with bentonite clay for a
binder was my molding sand. Scrap aluminum was used for melting
stock. My woodshop was already fairly well equipped and I had the
experience of building a wood lathe behind me, so I felt that I was up for the
challenge of building some metalworking equipment. To me, this was one of the
great learning experiences of a lifetime. It is a fascinating experience
to build a precision machine tool from scratch. It is also quite
laborious. In addition to lifting, flipping and ramming up sand molds,
tending the charcoal foundry, pouring 1400 deg aluminum and hacksawing, you have
many hours of filing and scraping to look forward to. I spent about 24
hours just scraping the bed flat. Your hands will also be dyed Prussian
blue as you scrape the castings, blue them, rub them over a surface plate and scrape some more. You
will very quickly understand and appreciate why precision machinery costs what
it does, and you may wonder why it does not cost more. In my
opinion, the real incentive for starting down the Gingery road, should be for
the education and experience. When you have a machine or two under your
belt, you should be able to design and build nearly any machine or mechanism
that does not require more than a quart of metal in a single part (See the
IsoBevel Grinder). You
will also understand how to design patterns and have some ability to predict
where you will need risers when making a new part. In any case, I finished my
Gingery lathe, about 9 months after I started (working on it in the evenings and
weekends). It works as advertised and turns on the faceplate and centers
quite nicely. It would be nice to have an array of chucks to reduce set-up
time. I have turned many steel and aluminum parts on the lathe;
however, I have not successfully turned brass. Brass usually sets the
machine to chattering. Perhaps it's the bit or the limited rigidity of the
lathe. The aluminum lathe components do not have the mass or rigidity of a
commercially made lathe. For this reason, I would suggest that if
you want a lathe that is easy to use, allows for quick set-ups and has that
all-important quality of tremendous rigidity, buy it. If you are
interested expanding your horizons and in the education and experience, build
it.

Gingery lathe in the foreground, Gingery mill and homebuilt wood lathe in
background.